Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We only know one thing. The Minister is asking private health insurance companies to provide a standard suite of cover which we do not yet know what it will cost or what they must be obliged to cover, and that they will compete with each other and with hospital groups or trusts and drive down costs. If the Minister asked the people who looked at these various insurance models and health systems throughout the world, he would find that that type of model does not work. That is the issue with which we have a problem. If he does not believe me, he should listen to some of the people who sat in the group advising the Government on this issue. They had major concerns about the Dutch model and other similar models in respect of maintaining and curtailing costs. We want an equitable and fair system, but at the end of the day it must be sustainable. Without that, we are going around in circles pretending that we are going to introduce a model that this State can afford, when we know before we even set out on this path that we are going to run into difficulty. They are saying in Holland and elsewhere as we speak that their systems simply do not drive down the cost of health care. It may make it equitable, but being equitable without sustainability is a panacea for major problems.

Let us pretend that the Minister's system is in place.

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